Dawn of Thunder I The Calm Before the Storm
by Dawn of Thunder - The Series
Summary: Team 7 are on their first real mission, but are they already in over their heads? They'll face new challenges, make new enemies; maybe even a new friend. Nariko is Kakashi's best friend from childhood - but where is her Leaf headband? Can she be trusted?
1. Chapter 1

The early morning sun was rising over the Leaf Village. The sky was still slightly purple from the night, the rim of the morning sun giving the horizon a slight tint of orange. Small birdcalls twittered through the morning atmosphere, and a small white butterfly fluttered about the plant life.

Most of the people that called the Leaf Village home - civilians and ninja alike - were tucked away in bed, still asleep. But not this ninja.

Kakashi Hatake sat on the edge of a clearing near a cliff top; cross-legged and with his eyes closed, he was in a state of calm. The tips of his hair swayed momentarily in the breeze: grey, but not from age. He was only in his mid-twenties.

Further inland, a shadowed figure slipped quietly amongst the buildings. With slightly clumsy hands, the figure opened the window of a small house. He knew what he was doing. Inside the house it was pitch black; a bedroom. On a small bed in a corner, a girl was sleeping with deep breaths.

The shadow crept slowly towards the girl, drawing something out of his pocket. The figure bent down and gently put pen marks across the girl's face. He giggled in anticipation, knowing as soon as she woke up she would be in for a big surprise in the mirror next to her bed. But the girl stirred. The giggle had woken her. She shifted in the bed as the pen was brought backwards. She recognized the dark figure as she sat up in a rush.

Kakashi Hatake heard the yell all the way from the outskirts of the village.

"NARUTO!"

He smiled; Sakura's screech was easily recognizable. Still grinning, he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. It'd be an eventful day…

--

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly as he watched his team mates argue. A sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head as sparks flew between Sakura and Naruto.

"Naruto! You idiot! You snuck into my bedroom!"

Naruto couldn't help but snicker a bit at the thick black lines on Sakura's face. Her normally tiny eyebrows were now covered in thick black ink: she also had lines around her eyes to make glasses. To top it all off, there were several lines on her lower face, creating a curled moustache and goatee.

His snickering stopped after he received a sharp blow to the head from her clenched fist.

"Aaargh!" He cried out as he sank to the ground, a lump forming between a few clumps of his light hair. "Come on Sakura; it was only a bit of fun!"

"A bit of fun!?" Sakura roared, strangling him.

Naruto felt if she shook his neck any harder his head might fall off. He was already turning blue as he tried to fend her off. "Sakura!" He coughed. "Eck! I didn't - choke - mean it - cough - that badly!" He trailed off, no air left in his lungs to continue. He felt like he was about to explode.

Kakashi chose that moment to intervene. He arrived at the space they were training in for the day; calmly and almost happily separating his ninja-in-training. For him, the squabbles were just routine. Sakura still looked livid, continuing her violent swipes toward Naruto, who was clasping his throat and breathing heavily. Kakashi stood between them, a hand on either of their collars. He made sure they were at arms length away from each other.

As soon as he stepped in, Naruto blurted out "Agh! Kakashi you took your time!"

Kakashi smiled from under his mask. "Good morning to you as well Naruto."

Naruto was catching his breath. "Next time, come quicker! Who else was gunna save me?! Him?!" He pointed to Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree looking disinterested. He chewed a grass stem and looked into the distance instead of at his moronic team member.

Kakashi waved it off. "Well; now that I see you're all up and chirpy, you can follow me to the next training session."

With that, he turned on his heel and made his way down the woodland path in the opposite direction. The other three picked themselves up to follow.

Kakashi led the procession happily enough – Sasuke behind him by a few steps and Sakura running after them – Naruto brought up the rear, nursing his throat. Sakura fell into step with Sasuke, looking at him with dreamy eyes. He ignored her completely.

"So, Sasuke…" she began, clasping her hands together and still staring at him. "How are you?"

He sighed, annoyed, giving her a distasteful look. He picked up his pace.

Sakura looked hurt briefly, but hurried up with him again. He noticed and looked away from her.

"I'm fine of course – training and all – gotta keep your mind on it and all," Sakura pushed. Sasuke found something interesting to stare at on Kakashi's back.

"It's good to see you each day too," she went on, to his annoyance. "It's good to be training with you – I mean, you're really good," she blushed. He on the other hand let out air slowly; he already knew he was the best thing that had ever happened to the ninja sensei of Konoha. He didn't need another fan girl to tell him that. "You're an inspiration to train with, Sasuke-kun… I just wanted to tell you that… because; you know… and…"

Sasuke paused his walking to turn to Sakura. She returned his gaze and her eyes shined.

"You do realize you still have the moustache, don't you?" He raised an eyebrow coldly.

Sakura went bright red and rubbed at her face – Sasuke walked on without a backwards glance – Naruto gave Sakura a weird look as he passed: she was vigorously licking her hands and rubbing her face.

Finally, they reached a forest clearing. Kakashi stood at the foot of a small group of trees in full bloom. All were alive with bees.

Naruto sat down on the forest floor. "Phew! Break time!"

Sasuke gave him a disdainful look. Sakura was about to sit too, but seeing the look Naruto received from Sasuke, decided to stand with him.

Kakashi was nodding to himself, peering at the trees and holding his chin thoughtfully. He came to a conclusion as he turned around and started explaining their task for the day.

"Alright guys; your mission – count all of those bees in the tree closest to you without hurting yourselves – or them."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious!"

"All of them?" Sakura asked incredulously.

Kakashi answered with a bright smile. "All of them."

Sasuke looked at the middle tree, considering. Naruto had a pessimistic expression as he viewed his tree on the right.

"Is there a time limit?" Sakura was looking at her own tree on the left.

"There wasn't…but now you mention it, it would be a good idea," said Kakashi, turning to view the trees himself. Sakura slapped her forehead for mentioning it. Naruto groaned and Sasuke smirked. He was already running several possibilities through his mind; a time limit wouldn't make it any more of a challenge. He glanced sideways at the other two, who were looking like they were out of their depth; he was sure he'd run rings around them.

"Your time limit is 10 minutes," Kakashi announced. "Begin!"

He clapped his hands together and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The trio didn't need to be told twice. Sasuke bent his knees and vaulted up into the sky, his Sharingan blazing like two red sparks in his skull. Already the bees were thinning out, going under his influence and coming out of the leaves.

Sakura stood under her tree looking with one eyebrow raised at the humming bees. She hurriedly went to her pack and got out a small scroll and pen so that she wouldn't have to count by hand.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't making too much progress. He stood with his hands on his hips at the base of his tree, looking upward and scratching his head. He saw Sakura muttering to herself.

"…the season, the time of day, and the type of pollen bees would be after…"

He couldn't understand it. Even if he studied them, he doubted he'd ever be able to figure out a bee's favourite type of pollen.

"Hn..." he mumbled to himself, struggling with thought.

He leaned forward and saw Sasuke was faring better than they were. Typical.

Naruto sighed, glaring up at the bees. They seemed to be mocking him from their high places; buzzing from flower to flower and being so at ease with his difficult situation. He growled and jumped at the tree.

About 5 minutes passed; Sakura was noting down some estimates on her scroll and Sasuke was nearly enveloped in obedient bees, and Naruto had fallen out of his tree for the sixth time with a lot of bee stings on his skin.

He got up, rubbing his backside and snuck a quick glance at his rival. Seeing Sasuke progressing further made his blood boil. He turned back to the bees and pointed his swollen puffy finger at them.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He yelled angrily.

He could already imagine Sakura's reaction to Sasuke's work when their time was up.

"Oh Sasuke darling! You're so cool! I wish I'd thought of that – you're so smart! You're soooo much better than Naruto at everything! Oh Sasuke honey; Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…"

Naruto could feel his ears burning already. He was just about to attack the bees again but then something clicked in him. He stopped mid-step and nearly overbalanced, slapping himself on the forehead for not realising this sooner.

Honey!

He dashed to his bag and grabbed a pack from inside it, pulling out a small tub of honey and biscuits.

"Can't believe I'm sacrificing my lunch for you guys!" He muttered, opening the lid and using two fingers to spoon it out onto the grass. He stood back and saw already the bees were being drawn out by the smell of the honey. As more of their group came out, more of the other bees followed – two or three were hovering around his hand – he could feel them tickling his fingers. He remembered he hadn't wiped the honey off them yet.

"Aaargh!" He waved his hand around before they could get comfy. "Back off bees!"

He felt pain as an angry bee stung him.

"Ow! You little–" he raved on for a while as a few more bees came to their friend's defence. "Ouch! Oof! Ow!"

"Time's up!" Kakashi declared as he popped up out of nowhere.

Sakura stood up and took her scroll up; Sasuke floated down and walked over without the bees from his tree. Sakura walked into Kakashi's clearing after he did. Their sensei raised an eyebrow.

"And where is our number one hyperactive ninja?"

He'd just finished the sentence when a pink and tired Naruto wobbled forward, his right hand considerably larger than his left. Sasuke gave him an unimpressed look; Sakura would have giggled, but this time she had a slightly pained expression.

Kakashi smiled sympathetically at him.

"There he is."

Naruto managed a small salute before falling flat on his face. Kakashi went to help him up.

Sasuke sighed in a bored fashion. "What a loser."

Sakura let a small giggle slip then, but covered her mouth quickly.

"What was your guess, Sakura?" Kakashi stood up with Naruto over his shoulder. Sakura was surprised, but opened her scroll quickly. "I, um, I used the seasons, and the time of day to… and the pollen type," she explained. "There were about 38 bees in my tree, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi nodded at Sakura's efforts. "Smart thinking Sakura; you were the only one to use your brains for the task."

Sakura blushed from the words, unsure if it was praise or a simple statement.

Kakashi turned his attention to Sasuke, who still stood with his hands in his pockets. "Sasuke?"

"My method was to bring out the bees with use of my Sharingan," he said. "The total number of bees was 47."

Again Kakashi nodded. "The Sharingan were an advantage over your team Sasuke. But an advantage well used. There were 47 bees in the tree." He turned back to Sakura, who was smiling proudly at Sasuke's success. "Sakura," he said. She snapped out of her daydream. "You were two off your total number."

"Oh…"

"But your approach to the task was well thought out and applied well."

Sakura brightened when he added that – she was sure that at least was a compliment.

"We should consider heading back now," Kakashi started walking.

"Before Naruto hurts himself again." Sasuke was muttering to himself, but Sakura laughed anyway.

--

Kakashi sat next to Naruto and the healer left the room, leaving some cream for the boy. The bee stings on most of his body were healable – a few had stung him under his top after buzzing up his sleeves – but these and most of his other stings were easy to calm. His hand however, was a different matter, as it had been attacked repeatedly. It was still larger than his left hand, and would be for the next few days. The cream was so that it wouldn't worsen.

Naruto was putting his shirt back on grumpily.

"What do those bees have against me? I never did anything to them! I don't even hate bees like most people!"

Kakashi waited until he was dressed again, sitting at Naruto's bed end with a coy and amused smile. Naruto didn't notice because Kakashi's mask hid it from view.

"What about your results Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looked perplexed. He blinked. "What?"

"Your method, and how many bees you counted."

"Heheh… right!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head and a sweatdrop of embarrassment appeared on the side of his brow. "Well, my method… I got them down with the honey."

Kakashi nodded, waiting for him to go on.

"And…" Naruto looked blank for a second. "Well, judging by the amount of stings I got, there were at least a hundred of them!" He laughed.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Is that your final answer?"

"What? No! No, no – that wasn't. That wasn't my final answer!" Naruto laughed again nervously. "Um… err… hmm…" He pressed his index fingers together and looked at the wall, his eyes narrowing into thick lines as he struggled to think. "Uhh, 50?"

Kakashi's expression was unreadable. Naruto waited.

"You're off." His sensei said.

Naruto felt deflated. "By how many?"

Kakashi shook his head. "A fair few."

Naruto sagged further down. "Man…" he said under his breath. "Sasuke and Sakura got it right didn't they?"

Kakashi shrugged. "More or less."

Naruto leant back with his hands over his face, groaning in defeat.

"Don't feel bad Naruto, you–"

Kakashi was interrupted by a single knock at the door. He turned around as the ward door opened and someone stepped through.

--

Outside the small healer's ward, Sasuke and Sakura sat on two plastic chairs in the corridor. Sakura turned to Sasuke curiously.

"Who was that?"

Sasuke had his arms crossed and his eyes half closed. He didn't bother to look at her when he shrugged his answer.

"He had the same uniform as the Hokage's advisors… what could he be here for?"

Again Sasuke shrugged. "Do I look like I know or care?" He silenced her at that.

In truth, he too was wondering why one of the Hokage's helpers were visiting. Of course he would be after Kakashi; Naruto held no importance. What business did this ninja have with Kakashi?

--

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and got to his feet.

"Akihiko?"

The man in front of them was dressed practically; he was middle-aged, tall and had a look about him that put across authority. His expression looked stern, but when he spoke to them his tone was light, as if his face had simply been aged by years of hard thought and seriousness.

"Hatake Kakashi," he said formally, despite Kakashi's casual recognition of him. "You and your three genin, officially known as Team 7, have been assigned a mission directly from Lord Hokage."

Naruto looked over as he said this, leaning forward on the bunk he was sitting on. Kakashi kept eye contact with Akihiko. Or at least tried to while the man read out the summons.

"The nature of the mission will be revealed, for security measures, only if you choose to accept it. The only information to be released is the fundamental description. This mission is of a ranking C, and it's time is estimated to amount to four days at the longest.

"It is recommended that you take time now to discuss your decision with your team – choose wisely; based on the facts and how well into training you are – I have been instructed to await your choice for three minutes. Any longer and I shall assume that you are not prepared for this, and assign another team to the mission."

Akihiko nodded once at Kakashi; his first hint of emotion since he had come in. It was short-lived. He turned on his heel and, much like the march of a soldier, paced evenly out as fast as he had entered, leaving Naruto stunned.

The pink-handed boy turned to his sensei. "Who is that guy?"

Kakashi looked down at Naruto. "That was Akihiko Ginjiro. We used to know each other while I was training to be a genin trainer."

Now Naruto really looked aghast. "Shouldn't he at least have said HI!?"

Kakashi laughed and patted Naruto on the head. "It was a long time ago Naruto," he said with a smile. "Besides; all Hokage assistant ninja have to act as formally as he did."

"You mean they're all that uptight?" Naruto looked back to the door with a slightly pained expression. There was no way he could imagine a job that serious.

He noticed that Kakashi was heading towards the door too.

"Hey! Where are you going??" He slid off the patient's bunk. Kakashi turned around, holding the door half open.

"To get the other two of course," he said with a small grin. "You can sit down; how else are we going to decide whether or not we'll be taking that mission?"

Naruto sweatdropped in embarrassment, hopping back onto the bunk and laughing awkwardly.

"Oh… right! Heheheh…"

--

Sasuke and Sakura entered after Kakashi stuck his head out the door to them. Sakura looked sympathetically in Naruto's direction for barely a second, her face showing a look of unimpressed pity.

"We've kindly been offered a mission," Kakashi began, folding his arms and looking down at them with calm awareness. "C grade – we have four days on it. How 'bout it?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke looked disinterested, but that was his normal look. Sakura was about to say something when Naruto jumped off his backside and grinned keenly.

"Of course we're going!" He said. "We wouldn't be proper ninja if we didn't!"

Sakura gave him a brief glare but agreed with him. Kakashi nodded with a smile. "I like your enthusiasm, Naruto," he said.

As soon as they had met their client, Tazuna the bridge builder, the mission was explained further. It didn't take long for them to be off again, Naruto leading the way and eager to be heading out, all thoughts of the bee incident leaving his mind. He had a new task to concentrate on now. No matter what was in their way, he was determined to do well now that they had a proper mission to contend with.

Sakura walked a little ahead of Sasuke, figuring for once she'd give him some space. She walked in Naruto's wake, shivering only slightly as she realized they were walking through a patch of fog. The lower temperature and visual clarity didn't seem to bother Naruto.

Sasuke was oblivious to the drop in temperature, walking ahead of his sensei and after Naruto and Sakura – he noticed the mist, however.

Their sensei walked behind them, hands in his pockets, looking half-asleep as usual. He had his head tilted slightly backwards as he went, as if contemplating the sky or some deep thought. But then for no apparent reason, he stopped dead in his tracks.

The other three walked on, undiscerning for a minute. They had only moved away by a few metres before they noticed Kakashi wasn't following.

Sasuke turned back, then Sakura a bit later, and finally Naruto, to see where their sensei had gotten to.

He stood in the middle of the clearing, sweeping the immediate area with his eyes only, hands in his pockets still. To the unobservant, he would look casual, but the three ninja with him could tell. They knew something was up.

Sakura looked worried, her eyes shining as they searched their surroundings. Sasuke put a hand on his kunai and Naruto bit his lip and glared around them, awaiting something miraculous to happen.

There was quietness for a while as they all stood on their guard - the mist around them making the situation even more unnerving - a small breeze went past and Kakashi's hair fluttered briefly in it. He seemed to hear something with a microscopic pitch; as the other three completely missed it. But his eyes shifted to his right, looking at a particularly tall tree. It took all the strength in Naruto's eyes to judge from their distance whether there was anything in it to be worried about.

With speed you'd miss if you blinked, Kakashi shot towards the tree and leapt easily up into its taller branches. There was another whoosh of air as a dark shape flitted straight upwards from the tree. Naruto saw Sasuke send two kunais after the figure, which flipped in the air to avoid them both. He was about to add his own into the fray to help his sensei, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to hit such a fast target.

He only watched as Kakashi tried to catch the spy – whoever they were – he had a horrible feeling they were one of Orochimaru's accomplices. With a growl, he stepped forward next to a stunned Sasuke, his fist raised and his eyes narrowed on the mysterious figure.

"COME ON KAKASHI! I KNOW YOU CAN GET THAT GUY!" He yelled at them.

Kakashi was concentrating on taking down the other ninja; he barely heard Naruto's voice as he charged after the spy. He let loose four kunais towards the swift ninja, who managed to evade them all; but they weren't quick enough to avoid Kakashi as he grabbed them mid-air. But all he felt was wood.

In a puff of smoke, the figure vanished and dropped to the ground a few seconds before Kakashi did. It was a log: a substitution jutsu. His eyes widened as he realized this fatal mistake and the figure appeared in front of him as he landed. Faster than the speed of light - they were off again, elbowing him in the side and bringing down their fist into his back - winding him. He did his best to get up again, but for once, he had met a ninja quicker than him. Naruto watched in horror as his sensei had his arm twisted behind his back and the assailant kneed him in the same place, holding him down, Kakashi's masked face just inches from the ground in front of him.

"No…" Sakura whispered, terrified. Naruto was astounded; this was the first time he had seen his sensei go down. And so quickly!

The figure bent down towards Kakashi; Naruto couldn't see what they were doing to him, but he knew it was something bad. "No!" Naruto shouted, running straight at the figure. He couldn't; wouldn't watch it happen.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried, running after him to try and pull him back.

"Naruto! Get back here!" Sasuke roared.

Kakashi looked around to see his three trainees approaching, but yelled out an order for them to run while they could still get away. The figure stopped what it was doing and looked up – Naruto saw they had a mask covering half their face like Kakashi's own. And those eyes…

It was a woman!

Now she became clearer Naruto could see she had her honey blonde hair tied back; a few loose ends waving across her ears and framing her face. Her eyes were deep shades of green.

But the ninja didn't try and stop him or take Kakashi hostage. Instead, she raised an eyebrow in a perplexed expression.

"Whoa!" She said from behind the mask. She pulled it down and shook her hair loose promptly. "Kakashi! You got kids!?"

Kakashi looked shocked for a second; he looked up and saw her face closely for the first time. Kakashi's expression was suspicious at first, but upon seeing her face he showed complete astonishment: a rare thing to see coming from him. Now it was his turn to exclaim.

"N-Nariko?!"

She looked back down at him with her eyebrow still raised. "Took you a while to figure it out!"

She let him up with a grin and he still looked amazed. She laughed at this and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. The two of them embraced with big smiles, while three faces dropped their jaws behind them.

"What the hell just happened?" Naruto muttered sideways at Sakura. She was still in a state of disbelief; she made a few squeaky noises but nothing came out that made sense, so she looked to Sasuke for help. He wasn't much use either – he was staring in incredulity at Kakashi and his friend – he was still amazed that his kunais hadn't even managed to get within a centimeter of this woman.

Kakashi finally stopped hugging the ninja and acting hyper.

"Oh – guys, I want you to meet someone. This is Nariko Jia-Feng – my best friend since we were kids."

Trying still to recover from when they first saw her, the three of them looked up at Nariko, Sasuke managing to shut his mouth and look a bit less astounded.

"Nariko, this is Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura," Kakashi nodded at each of them, smiling.

"Hey," Nariko greeted.

"Hi…" Sakura said uncertainly.

"Uh, hiya," Naruto added.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Wow; tough crowd," Nariko rubbed the back of her neck with a small smile. She then nudged Kakashi. "What happened to the kid's hand?"

"Oh, Naruto?" Kakashi shook his head. "Bit of a run-in with an angry bee hive," he said as Naruto glanced down at his swollen right palm.

"Ah, I see…"

Sasuke broke in. "Where's your ninja headband?" He asked bluntly. Naruto and Sakura noticed then too.

Nariko looked upwards towards her bare head along with Kakashi, who then looked down at Sasuke as Nariko coughed and looked over to her right.

"Let's save the questions for later, shall we Sasuke?" He said evenly.

Sasuke looked put out – he was still unsure about this woman – but he had brought up a fair point.

"As it is; we're on a mission," Kakashi said brightly to Nariko, putting his hands on his hips.

"You don't say?" She grinned. "Where to?"

"We've gotta escort some guy back to his fishing village," Naruto said. "No big deal."

Nariko grinned. "Of course not! Judging by the looks of you guys I'd certainly think twice about challenging this group!"

This cheered Naruto – he went slightly pink from the praise and rubbed the back of his head bashfully – Sakura smiled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow while Nariko leant down so that she was closer to their level. She covered her mouth with her hand and said to the three of them, "I'll bet you're the ones rescuing Kakashi all the time, hey?"

They sniggered at that. Even Sasuke caught himself smirking.

"That's enough from you Nariko," Kakashi bent down too, giving her a disapproving look and a small sweatdrop appearing on his forehead.

Nariko was laughing but held a hand to her face to stop herself from continuing.

"Stop undermining me in front of my students," he said slightly grumpily.

"Sorry Hatake," she said with a broad grin.

"I'll have to keep you in check for the rest of the mission won't I?"

This time instead of it just being three astounded faces, Nariko was a little bewildered too.

"The rest of the mission?" She asked, perplexed.

"The rest of the mission!?" The other three echoed.

Kakashi never lost posture for a moment.

"The rest of the mission," he beamed.

Three jaws dropped again and Nariko blushed slightly.

"Wow: are you sure?" She looked unsure of herself for a moment. "I wouldn't want to interfere with your task," she added, turning to look at the three confused faces behind her.

Sasuke frowned and went to open his mouth.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind," Kakashi cut across before he could say anything. He turned around to the genin; "Would you?" He asked brightly.

"Uh… I guess not," Naruto said, slightly dumbstruck. Sakura looked at Sasuke to see what his reaction was. He obviously didn't want her company. She looked back up to Kakashi and went to try and say something, but she felt her eyes drawn to Nariko.

She was just behind Kakashi and looking a little embarrassed that the kids had been put on the spot for her sake. She smiled at Sakura sheepishly, knotting her hands behind her back for something to do other than fidget. Sakura recognized warmth in those green eyes. She couldn't help but smile back at that warmth.

"I wouldn't mind," Sakura said.

Kakashi beamed. "It's settled then," he said.

"Are we going to get moving again or what?" Asked Tazuna grouchily.

No-one seemed to be too angered at the rude and impatient bridge builder. Kakashi started heading off in a westward direction, looking very pleased with himself. Sasuke followed.

"You didn't have to do that, guys," Nariko said to Naruto and Sakura. "On a mission, the last thing you need is an unwanted tag-along."

"Nah, no way!" Naruto grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "You're no tag-along. We could use extra help for this one anyway. It's a long walk." He started off towards the west. "And who else is gunna help save Kakashi when he gets captured?" He added with a grin.

"I heard that," came Kakashi's voice from up ahead. Naruto sweat dropped and picked up his pace.

Nariko and Sakura both grinned at the response, bringing up the rear of the party. Nariko pulled her mask back into position.

"He did have a point you know." Sakura said as they walked.

Nariko looked down at her curiously.

"Well; you do have a lot of speed," she added, going slightly pink. "And that'd be good for if we got into trouble or something."

Nariko smiled. "Thanks Sakura," she said. "But it takes more than speed to get you out of most tricky situations," she finished, looking ahead of them.

She didn't look as if she was about to elaborate any further, so Sakura gave a quick bow and went to catch up with Sasuke. Nariko watched her go – that girl had a lot of potential – if only she'd use it on things other than boys. But then she smiled; the girl needed to enjoy her youth.

After all, she thought, looking ahead at Kakashi; we were all young once.

She grinned to herself.

Sakura fell into step with Sasuke again. He looked up briefly, but upon seeing who it was hung his head again, frowning darkly. Sakura didn't notice.

"So Nariko's pretty nice, huh?" She asked.

Sasuke just grunted.

Sakura looked concerned. "Sasuke?"

"Leave me alone," he growled, shoving past.

Sakura looked upset, holding her hands against to her heart and watching him walk on behind their cheerful sensei.

"Don't worry about him." Naruto had become level with her. He spoke in a knowing tone. "He's just grumpy because she dodged his kunais like they were snail paced."

Sakura started walking again after Naruto had passed by. Despite Naruto's words, now she was feeling regretful of her impulse choice on accepting Nariko.

None of them noticed the unfamiliar ninja watching their progress closely from the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

Walking ahead with Tazuna lazily following, Naruto happily lead the now six-strong party. Sakura and Sasuke came afterward, with Kakashi just behind them, having dropped back from the front. Nariko brought up the rear, looking at the back of Naruto's head and holding her chin thoughtfully, her mask up over the lower half of her face. It was like déjà vu… the kid reminded her of someone in particular. Although she couldn't quite place it. Sasuke too. Both boys stirred memories to the forefront of her mind; of the times when she was their age, yet she couldn't…

"…we're not going to run into any foreign ninja or anything like that?" Sakura was saying.

Her voice sounded quite close – Nariko noticed that the party's order had shifted around somewhat – she really needed to wrench her head out of the clouds. Doing so, she saw that the genin had dropped back to talk with their sensei. Tazuna was less than a few feet away from her, still happy to let Naruto lead the way, it seemed.

Kakashi laughed at Sakura's concern. "Not likely."

Nariko glanced at the bridge builder as Kakashi spoke. He seemed to stiffen – she only noticed the movement because she was so close to him – was he hiding something from them? Or was it her own paranoia?

"Nariko, Tazuna. Are you guys coming?" Kakashi turned around after the genin had started off once more.

Nariko snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, coming…" She nodded at Tazuna, who took the hint and walked ahead first.

-+/*x

They passed over a bridge across a stream; this one was flat and made entirely of wood. It was more of a walkway than bridge.

"Wouldn't compare much to the type of structure you could erect, would it, Tazuna?" Nariko asked, watching the fish swim under their feet.

The old man looked up from under the shade of his hat. "This? This is nothing. Nothing in contrast to what I can do." His tone was flat, but she could sense a hint of pride in his voice.

Raising an eyebrow, she waited for him to continue, but he didn't look like he wanted to talk about it any further. She gave up on any further attempts at conversation.

They passed a puddle along their way. Kakashi turned his head briefly as it caught his and Nariko's attention. It was something different to the usual sun-dried dirt they usually saw – Nariko's eyes followed it as the group moved along – then she frowned to herself, halting her steps.

There were no other puddles around. No leaves dripping. In fact, there was no visible sign anywhere that it had rained for _weeks_ let alone in the past 24 hours. It wasn't a natural occurrence – and if they weren't going to be attacked on just a C-rank mission, that meant it could only mean…

Nariko's eyes flashed. _Could it be…?_ she wondered.

Her hand moved slowly to her right leg, flicking open the kunai holster.

"Kakashi," she murmured a warning.

_It wasn't possible…_

Naruto stopped walking and turned around curiously – Sakura and Tazuna did the same soon after – each sensing Nariko's unease. Sasuke turned around also, with a small annoyed frown.

_Surely it couldn't be… _him.

Nariko turned around, expecting the puddle to be gone or on the move. What she did see, however, came as a slight shock. A black armoured figure was rising ominously out of the water. Nariko took a backstep, her kunai completely forgotten.

She expected an attack – it came – a second man trailing black spurred chains shot out of the puddle and headed straight towards her. She put her hands up in front of her face to defend herself, but they shot straight past her.

She turned, eyes wide, and saw their target. Within seconds, Kakashi was trapped like a lassoed animal. Nariko whipped round to face their attacker again, seeing now that he wore a headband. The symbol showed the pair were from… the Hidden Village of the Mist.

But it made no sense… If it wasn't him, who was it? Who else would attacking them?

The mean look to the shinobi's eye told her everything she needed to know at the time; he was malevolent, and he meant business. Nariko drew her kunai, but he and his comrade had pulled on the chains already.

"Stop!" Nariko cried all too late. Kakashi couldn't get out of the hold; his body was torn to bloody shreds.

"Kakashi-sensei!!!" Sakura wailed.

Nariko stood there stunned for a few seconds, along with the others. Then she squared her shoulders angrily.

"Remember the mission! Protect Tazuna! _Now_!" She ordered, gritting her teeth and turning to glare at the Mist ninja. "You'll pay!" She growled, her chest tightening with rage.

She didn't allow herself to think about what had just happened to Kakashi. Throwing three small shuriken, she went straight for the first attacker's vital areas – throat, heart, and forehead – she didn't spare time to make sure they hit.

She whipped around to check on the other one, but he was going after Naruto. The boy was still in a state of shock. Nariko yelled a distraction, but was ignored; the man was heading straight for him!

"Naruto! Get outta there!" Nariko shouted, running forward, but heard the clinking of a chain cutting through air behind her. Startled, she dropped and rolled to her back, seeing the rope of black links zoom just centimetres over her head. With an angry roar, she stabbed upward with her kunai, catching the chain and twisting it out of the ninja's grip.

"What the –"

She was on her feet in seconds – clearly he and his partner had targeted Kakashi first because he was clearly marked as the leader; the strongest of the group – the jounin. But he wasn't the only jounin there!

With a vicious lunge for his throat, Nariko pinned the shocked ninja down, twisting his arm around and bringing her knee down hard on his back.

"Didn't expect that, did you?" She hissed angrily, only just resisting the urge to slit his throat.

She turned around and saw Sasuke was standing in front of Sakura, who in turn was defending Tazuna. The remaining ninja was going straight for them – they were helpless! Yet she couldn't let this one go. His face was nearly pressing into the dirt underfoot, but that didn't stop the Mist shinobi from grinning savagely at her predicament.

But all it took was an instant. The running ninja was hooked around the throat by a tall figure who caught the ninja under his neck, holding him in a choke-hold.

"Hi," Kakashi grinned proudly, standing there as if nothing had happened.

A surge of relief swept through Nariko; he was okay.

Pulling the ninja she was kneeling on up by the back of his collar, Nariko stood up and hauled him none-too-gently over to where Kakashi was standing. She threw him roughly to the ground again and only then removed the kunai from the side of his throat. She then threw her arms around Kakashi and hugged him tightly.

"Kakashi-sensei used the replacement jutsu…" Naruto realised, aghast. He looked towards the place where just before, he had seen what he thought was his sensei, torn to shreds in an instant. The only thing left there was a distributed mess of chopped wood.

If Kakashi was surprised at Nariko's reaction, he did well to hide the fact. He smiled and patted her back with his free hand.

"Don't worry yourself," he said with a small grin. "I wouldn't let anything happen to any one of you."

"I wasn't worried!" Nariko said, perhaps a little louder than necessary. She raised her head and half-glared at Kakashi. "Not one bit! Because I know you'd never let yourself slip up – and you'd never do that to me – just hours after I found you again."

Kakashi sweatdropped as Nariko's hold on him became gradually tighter.

"Right?" Nariko said, looking a little annoyed.

Kakashi kept his smile there as she nearly squeezed the life out of him.

"Riiiight…?" Nariko asked again, her eyes narrowing.

"Of course I wouldn't, Nariko-kun…" Kakashi said, briefly fearing for his life. He gave a short sigh of relief as her hold loosened and her expression lightened.

"I knew you wouldn't," she said cheerfully. She picked up the groaning ninja at her feet and handed him over to Kakashi, the latter of which held him limp form under one arm, the attacker's partner still slung over one shoulder.

"Looks like Kakashi put Nariko's jutsu to good use…" Sakura murmured.

"Hey," he protested upon hearing his name. "I mastered that technique a long time before Nariko learnt it."

Nariko grinned underhandedly. "Either way, we have other things to look at here." She looked over at the bridge builder and put her hands on her hips. "Tazuna, are you alright?"

The bridge builder looked up, pale-faced, and nodded meekly.

Nariko inclined her head with a lot more strength. She turned to Kakashi, who was apologizing to Naruto for not showing up sooner. He also congratulated Sasuke and Sakura for their quick-thinking. Nariko waited until he was done before she tapped his arm gently.

Her tall friend turned around and met her eyes.

"I know I don't know the old man too well, but…" Nariko muttered, shooting a glance at Tazuna. "He hasn't been straight with us." She looked at Kakashi again, who nodded in agreement.

"I agree. He's definitely hiding something."

Nariko dropped her gaze as Kakashi looked toward the genin.

"I have some bandages for Naruto," she said, reminded of the boy's torn and bleeding hand. She went to fetch something from her black jacket, but Kakashi stopped her.

"Wait," he said.

Nariko looked up curiously. Kakashi glanced down at her and winked so that the others couldn't see. Nariko inclined her eyebrow an inch – she knew that look – it only happened when he had an idea in his head… The pair of them simultaneously looked over at Naruto and Sasuke; the blond boy looked like he was ready to kill the Uchiha kid.

"Rrrrr SASUKE!!!"

"Naruto!"

Hearing the shout of his sensei, Naruto halted his mad rage and turned his head.

"Stand still," His mentor instructed simply, holding the two ninja limply in his arms. From beside him, Nariko glanced at Kakashi. "These ninja have poison in their claws – we need to remove it quickly."

Naruto swallowed air, lifting his hand and shaking a little.

"We need to open the wound and take it out; it's in your blood, so don't move around until we can get to you. That will only spread the poison. By the way, Mr. Tazuna…" Kakashi redirected the conversation towards the bridge builder without moving his head. The old man looked startled.

"Yeah, what?" He asked a little gruffly.

Kakashi turned his head to the side and fixed Tazuna with a sharp look.

"We need to talk," was all he said.

-+/*x

Gathering at the base of a nearby tree, six figures stood around its trunk in a sort of semi-circle. Siz pairs of eyes were all trained on what lay at the base of the tree.

The three genins were together to the side; Naruto and Sasuke were sitting down, the latter with his elbows on his knees almost lazily and the former inspecting his hand. Sakura stood a little behind them, her hands close to her heart and looking for comfort from Sasuke. Comfort the boy looked less than keen to give.

Tazuna stood, fidgeting rhythmically with his glasses every so often, on the tree's left. Sort of. He was probably closer to the front than the side; he didn't want to get too close to the tree.

Finally, the two jounin stood in the middle, directly in front of the large plant. Nariko stood with one arm folded across her chest, the other arm holding her chin thoughtfully, resting its elbow on the other arm. She stoof with near army-trained posture, but still could not beat Kakashi for height. Kakashi, his hands in his pockets, was slouching ever so slightly and looking at the two ninja tied to the base of the tree.

"Good job with the rope," he said to the young woman next to him.

With a shrug and a small grin, Nariko replied, "I didn't like the odds that they would stay down if they woke up. Take a hint, you lot," she said, looking briefly at the three genin and then nodding back to the bound ninja. "Make sure there's always a little room left for rope. It's a useful addition to any ninja's munitions."

Kakashi was looking the ninja up and down. Nariko shot him a questioning glance.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"These look like Hidden Mist Chuunins…" he mused in reply. Nariko nodded – they already knew that. Behind them, she could tell the others were listening; even Tazuna was silent.

"These shinobi are trained to continue fighting no matter what."

"Her…" one of the pair started, hoarsely, looking with meek loathing at Nariko. The only thing Nariko did was put her arm down, folding it over the other one and keeping a plain face. The would-be assasin continued huskily, "…Who is… what is… she… headband… but, those moves…"

"We only expected one shinobi accompanything the geezer…" The other half of the pair croaked, his injuries still throbbing.

Kakashi gave Nariko a short look, wondering how the battle would have gone without her help – she was still keeping her poker face on – but the Mist ninja weren't done yet.

"…How did you read our movements?"

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's not going to be a puddle in the middle of the road." Kakashi took the liberty of answering.

"Well then why did you let the brats fight?" Tazuna interrupted, clearly spooked by the whole turn of events. Evidently he didn't feel comfortable with only the protection of three genins; and it seemed now he was doubting the abilities of Kakashi – his main chance of survival.

Nariko frowned and Kakashi shot him a cold glance. "I could have killed the both of them in an instant if I had chosen to do so," he stated. "But then I wouldn't have found their goal. Their target wasn't us, Tazuna, it was you."

The old man hesitated briefly. "Then why–"

"Did they attack him?" Nariko stepped forward, unfolding her arms. "Kakashi was the logical one to take down first," she explained, at Tazuna's tense silence. "He's the only labelled jounin, and their only main threat. Once he was out of the way, there would only be three genins preventing them from getting to their main objective."

She fixed the bridge-builder with a cold stare. "If they had known I could defend you too, their attack plan would have needed rearrangement, and who knows? If not for Sasuke, you could have been at their mercy right now."

His reaction would confirm this theory – it was true, the two Mist agents could have been simply after Kakashi or powerful ninja – but after the comment from the ninja when he referred directly to Tazuna, her suspicions had been aroused.

At her words, Tazuna gulped.

Nariko's eyes narrowed fractionally – his game was up – there was something he wasn't sharing with them afterall. She put her hands on her hips and Kakashi took over.

"You never told us there were trained shinobi after you," he said. "Our mission was only to guard you from bandits or regular thieves and thugs. All we had to do was protect you until this bridge got built."

Nariko wondered if money was the matter behind this - if they had known the old man was being hunted, this would have been ranked as a B mission – at the very least. She glanced to Sakura, who looked almost as scared as Tazuna had. Now the bridge-builder was just looking guilty.

"We're operating outside our duty now," Kakashi said, turning to Nariko. "Sorry to have you dragged into all this, Nariko."

She shook her head in dismissal; "It's not your fault."

"We're not ready for this!" Sakura blurted out. "We should quit!"

All eyes turned to her – Kakashi's slowly, Nariko's with a slightly raised eyebrow, and the other's with a bit of surprise – Tazuna wasn't so surprised, however.

"Naruto's hand needs attention; we should take him to a doctor's!" Sakura pushed, as Kakashi looked down at Naruto's still-bleeding hand.

Nariko looked at her friend, wondering again why he didn't want her to provide that attention.

"…This might be too much for us…" Kakashi mused thoughtfully.

At this, Naruto looked positively frantic. He then bit his tongue angrily and glared downward at his hand, his kunai hand gripping the handle of his weapon. Nariko saw what he was going to do, but she didn't have enough time to cross the distance between them to stop him, so she didn't bother trying.

With a sickening sound, the boy drove the tip of the kunai towards him, it's top vanishing into the back of his hand.

A silent exclamation went through everyone else – minus the two ninja tied to the tree, who seemed to have slipped into a half-concious sleep.

"Naruto! What are you doing!?!" Sakura screamed.

Naruto hunched over, shadows covering his slightly wild eyes.

"I won't need saving again…" he growled to himself. "Never again… I won't be the weak one!" He gritted his teeth as the blood flowed from his hand, but he looked up, his eyes ablaze. "I'll protect the old man! We're continuing this mission!"

Nariko was startled, but as a reaction her expression softened. She knew exactly who he reminded her of now…

She glanced at Kakashi, wondering if he could see it too. Kakashi started to move towards the boy.

"Naruto," he said quite calmly, "it's good that you're letting the poison out and all…" he bent down to Naruto's level. "But any more and you're going to die of blood-loss… seriously…" He put on a bright smile as Naruto looked at his hand, a little dumbfounded.

Nariko stopped herself from laughing at the poor kid's expression. There was a tiny pause, then…

"NOO!!! That's BAD! I can't die from something like this!!!" Naruto held his uninjured hand to his head, his legs dancing around beneath him rowdily. "Save me Kakashi-sensei!!!"

Nariko was thankful for her mask. "Kakashi, that's just mean," she couldn't help but grin.

Naruto paused his panicking, looking up at Nariko with surprise and then back down at his healing hand. He then glared at Kakashi, assuming his teacher had been deliberately trying to scare him. Kakashi smiled guiltily and sweatdropped.

"Heh… um…" he said, as Naruto continued to glare at him, assuming the boy was angry at him for exaggerating the severity of the poison.

Trying to stop herself from laughing, Nariko turned away to hide her expression from the others – they would be able to see the humour in her eyes – thankfully, they were all pretty distracted.

Sasuke was looking boredly at Naruto as Sakura brought her fists up under her head, still angry at Naruto for recklessly stabbing himself.

"Naruto, are you a masochist or something? What were you thinking?!" She demanded angrily, giving Kakashi an opportunity to take the bleeding hand Naruto was holding out. He inspected it cooly, then frowned a little.

Taking a closer look, he confirmed what he had originally thought: Naruto's wound was already beginning to heal. Thoughtfully, he looked his hand over again for a little. Nariko noticed he seemed to be taking his time; she turned around, fully composed once more, wondering what had caught Kakashi's attention.

"Uhh… Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked cautiously – 'scary face!' he thought to himself – his sensei seemed to snap out of whatever he was thinking.

"Am I going to be okay?" He asked uneasily.

Kakashi finished wrapping Naruto's hand in the cushioning bandages, letting Naruto test it's flexibility and movement.

"You should be fine," he reassured him.

Nariko smiled at the grateful look Naruto gave Kakashi – fleeting as it was.

"…Lady Nariko… …Kakashi-sama…"

The two of them turned around curiously at being given such titles.

It was Tazuna.

The old man looked defeated as he spoke; "…we should talk…"

-+/*x

Their small boat moved across the fog-encircled waters bordering the small Wave country. The three genin were at the front; Naruto leaning over the bow of the ship, intent on spotting their heading. The thick mist would stop him from doing so for a while yet, Nariko suspected.

She and Kakashi were resting closer to the stern – the ferryman was standing behind them, using a single wooden oar to move them gradullay forward – gliding, the vessel cut through the water in near silence.

"We should see the bridge soon," he said with an edge of unease, breaking from his rhythmic rowing to look up. "The Wave country is at the base of that bridge."

Nariko shared a glance with Kakashi, each wondering if the other was thinking what they were.

In any case, they didn't have much time to ponder long – soon enough, they came face to face with a tall structure – it was supported by sturdy beams of brick, whereas its length was seemingly some sort of stone and wood mixture. Awestruck, Naruto let off an exclamation.

"Wow!!! It's huge!!!"

"Hey! Be quiet!" Barked the ferryman sharply. "Why do you think we're coming in under the cover of the mist without the engine on? We'll be in deep trouble if they find us out here!"

Strained silence enveloped the boat. Nariko had been wondering about the engine – she had at first assumed it was broken in some way – but apparently this was not the case.

The old man seemed particularly on edge, considering he was coming home.

"Sensei…" he muttered to Kakashi, as Nariko shot him a backwards glance. Before he could continue, they had hit the bank and were being urged silently to disembark by the ferryman.

"Sensei," Tazuna continued, as the boat moved off into the distance again. "I…need to admit something… it concerns the mission…"

Kakashi tried to offer Nariko his hand to help her out of the boat, but soon took it back after seeing the look she gave him. He then turned around to Tazuna with a quizzical look.

"You were right… this job is maybe outside the league of your duties; a dangerous man wants to kill me. A super dangerous man."

Nariko raised an eyebrow behind Kakashi, but took care not to let the bridge builder see it. She had come to notice through years of comparisons that what villagers considered to be a "super dangerous" criminal, was more often than not a completely different view to that of a trained shinobi.

Kakashi was waiting for the old man to go on, but noticed a certain reluctance.

"Who is he, then?" He prompted, sitting down briefly.

"You've probably heard of him before…" Tazuna admitted. "Does the name Gatou mean anything to you?"

Nariko didn't recognize the name. "I haven't heard anything about this Gatou person… what village does he hail from?"

The old man shook his head. "He's no ninja," he said. "He's chairman of a company th–"

"That Gatou Company?" Kakashi interrupted, recognition dawning in his eyes. "He's said to be one of the world's richest people."

Tazuna nodded. "Officially he runs a large shipping company; but on the underhand he's involved in all sorts of nasty dealings. He's into drug dealings, smugglings, anything illegal and he's probably got a hand in it."

"Sounds like he's pretty corrupt," Nariko mused, folding her arms. "But how would he get to you? And why would he want to?"

"Well, he doesn't do all the dirty work himself," Tazuna went on.

"They never do," Kakashi muttered aside to Nariko.

"He hires ninja and gangs of mobsters to do it for him. Together they take over businesses and small countries. He's a very nasty man.

"Through blackmail and violence, he quickly took control of the Wave country – he's been calling the shots ever since he first set his eyes on us about a year ago – now he's basically got the whole country under his thumb, running the business traffic like a monopoly."

Nariko frowned thoughtfully as the genin caught up with their conversation.

"The Wave country is one without a Hidden Ninja village to protect it…" she said in an undertone. "This combined with its small size and isolation from the mainland would have made it all the more easy for Gatou's men."

She thought along that trail of thought more and connected Tazuna's importance to that of the Wave country. Kakashi looked at her as she did so.

"So if all trading networks are cut off within the country…" Kakashi said, following her trail of thought.

"…Then the only way of introducing any life back into it is from outside the borders." Nariko finished the sentence, turning to look at Tazuna again. "The bridge is the lifeline."

The old man nodded. "It's completion is the only thing Gatou has to fear."

"I see," Sakura said, holding her chin in almost the same pose as Nariko had adopted previously. "So… because you're building the bridge, you're in the way."

Nariko nodded and looked at Sasuke, who spoke next. "Those Mist ninja must have been two of Gatou's hired cronies."

She then looked over at Naruto, who looked like he was doing his best to understand and failing epically. She tried to explain it to him in brief quietly, but before she had a chance, Kakashi raised an interesting question.

"What I don't understand is this," he said pointedly. "If you knew there were ninja and other thugs after you, why did you hide it from us to start with?"

Tazuna hung his head at this point. Nariko eyed him curiously, along with the others. Minus Sasuke, who didn't look like he cared all that much.

"Because of Gatou's reign, he's sucked the economy dry," Tazuna said glumly. "Now, the Wave country can barely afford to feed itself, let alone pay for an expensive B-rank mission for one of it's people."

There was a brief pause and silence took over here as it had on the boat. Then the old man spoke again.

"Well, you can quit the mission if you want," the old man started.

Nariko frowned to herself. If the others chose to leave for the sake of the genin's safety she'd understand, but she was considering staying herself. She wasn't bound by any mission statement, and she didn't like the idea of this Gatou person taking control of a country at the expense of its people.

But the old man was continuing; "of course, if you do, I'll surely die in some terrible manner, but hey!" He abruptly donned a bright smile. "It's no biggie! My really cute ten-year-old grandson will be crying his eyes out for the next few months… oh, and his mother will live a sad, sad life, forever hating the Leaf Village and all affiliated with it…"

He turned away in a sad fashion, leaving an amazed four behind him. Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had their shoulders slumped in defeat, a sweatdrop forming on each of their heads.

"But don't worry about me! It's not like it'll be your fault!" Tazuna called cheerfully over his shoulder. "Not at all…"

Nariko couldn't believe this guy.

Neither, it seemed, could Kakashi. "Well," he said, "I guess we have no choice but to protect you – we can escort you safely on the way back to your country."

Nariko shook her head in bewilderment.


End file.
